Agency

“Wherever it is found and however it is expressed, the Golden Rule encompasses the moral code of the kingdom of God. It forbids interference by one with the rights of another. It is equally binding upon nations, associations, and individuals. …scriptures are studded with stories of contention and combat. They strongly condemn wars of aggression but sustain obligations of citizens to defend their families and their freedoms. …Peace is possible. We can learn to love our fellow human beings throughout the world. …we can live together with mutual admiration and respect…”

‘My brethren and sisters, if the Lord will bless me I desire to say a few words about a most serious worldwide threat. …I take these words of warning as my text, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” …any system which deprives men of their free agency, which weakens the home and family, which depends on butchery for power, which denies all moral responsibility, which holds that man lives by bread alone, and which denies the existence of God, is of the devil.’

‘But there is another war that has gone on since before the world was created …That war, so bitter, so intense, has never ceased. It is the war between truth and error, between agency and compulsion, between the followers of Christ and those who have denied Him. His enemies have used every stratagem in that conflict. They’ve indulged in lying and deceit. They’ve employed money and wealth. They’ve tricked the minds of men. They’ve murdered and destroyed and engaged in every kind of evil practice to thwart the work of Christ. …The war goes on. It is waged across the world over the issues of agency and compulsion… truth and error … love and respect, of loyalty and fidelity, of obedience and integrity….’

‘The Lord has said that “when we … exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, … the heavens withdraw themselves [and] the Spirit of the Lord is grieved.” There may be moments when we are tempted to justify our actions by believing that the end justifies the means. We might even think that to be controlling, manipulative, and harsh will be for the good of others. Not so… Christ’s perfect love overcomes temptations to harm, coerce, bully, or oppress.’

‘We should also push back against…the expectation that the extended family or the community or the government will provide what you desire with a minimum of effort on your part. As required by the spiritual growth that is the purpose of the plan of salvation, the gospel teaching of self-reliance pushes back against the idea or culture of dependency. …Don’t be part of the worldly attitude described in the characterization of your generation as the “me generation,” interested only in “what’s in it for me.” Always be willing to cooperate and even sacrifice in cooperative efforts for the benefit of the larger community.’

‘…we live in “perilous times.” The conditions of our day should not be a surprise to us. They have been foretold for millennia as a warning and admonition so that we can be prepared. …Moroni says he has seen our day, and it includes wars and rumors of wars, great pollutions, murders, robbing, and people who tell us that there is no right or wrong in God’s eyes. …Joseph Smith—Matthew indicates that in the last days even the “very elect … according to the covenant” will be deceived… Even we are at risk of being deceived by false teachings.’

“Today civilized nations are sitting on a mountain of explosives, accumulated in defiance of Christ’s teachings. Let the heat of hatred, suspicion, and greed become a little more intense, and there will be such an international explosion as will greatly retard, if not forcibly drive from the midst of mankind, the hoped-for peace heralded by the heavenly hosts when Christ as a babe was born in Bethlehem.”

“I cannot see how the rank and file of the people who are classed as atheistic communists could accept the godless totalitarianism of Marx and Lenin if they really had a comprehension and knowledge of the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the eternal plans of the Father for the well-being and exaltation of his children.”